Full review of 1985 wines | Vintage guide

• Vintage 1985 in BORDEAUX

> 1985 Grands Crus in stock

The 1985 vintage is a magnificent vintage with a lot to tell. It is, in any case, a very good vintage, but it may turn out to be a splendid vintage for those winemakers who have made the best decisions at harvest time. Once again, spring was not all it was cracked up to be. Rain and humidity were the order of the day, but this will not cause any problems for the vines or their vegetative cycle. All went well, and no frost or hail was recorded. This is already a relief after the poor harvests carried out previously by the winegrowers. July will be a little warmer than spring, but this will not prevent a little rain on the vines, but again, nothing too serious. August will be cool, but without a drop of rain. The good news comes in September. It broke all temperature records, being warmer than the 1961 or 1982 vintages! Harvesting begins at the end of September for the earliest-ripening grapes, in this case the Merlot, and ends at the beginning of October for the Cabernet. It's when the Cabernet grapes are picked that the first decisions have to be made. After the first Cabernet harvest, everyone realized that the grapes were not going to reach a sufficient degree of alcohol. The grapes returned to the winery healthy, but with a slight lack of ripeness. The bravest winemakers will therefore wait a few more days to let the Cabernet soak up a little more sun, and they'll be right to do so. As for the more cautious, they will have picked the grapes under-ripe, for fear of suffering rainfall which would have damaged their quality.

As a general rule, the 1985 vintage was rather charming, fruity and relatively full on the palate. The wines can be drunk early, on the fruit and their youth. But they can also wait a few more years. It's true that nowadays, Bordeaux wines from 1985 need to be consumed. As far as white wines are concerned, dry whites are quite pleasant when young, but will lack the acidity to last over time. The same goes for sweet wines, which won't have the chance to see too much rot attacking the vines, due to a summer that was too dry and lacking in humidity.

If you want to treat yourself to 1985 wines, we've got you covered.

At the top of the list is the Château Haut Brion 1985 which is surely one of the finest bottles we have of the 1985 vintage, not far behind comes the Château Margaux 1985 which is also rather pretty. These are wines that still drink well. So yes, there's no longer that power on the palate, but the evolving aromas are interesting all the same.

 

• Vintage 1985 in BOURGOGNE

Here too, a great sigh of relief for our winegrower friends, who will have plenty to satisfy them with the 1985 vintage. Even before the harvest, critics were talking about a great vintage, the vintage of the century. Well, they were right about one thing: 1985 is indeed a great vintage in Burgundy, but not enough to be the vintage of the century. Be that as it may, it's a very great vintage, which, in the first instance, avoided hail and frost. This is already a very good thing, as it will guarantee an interesting volume at harvest time and, above all, avoid the first wave of disease. Then came spring, which, as in Bordeaux, went off without a hitch, with sunshine and a little rain, but not enough to discourage our winegrowers. Summer was going to be magnificent, and the Pinot Noir grapes were going to be able to bask in the sun without worrying about a thing. It's true that the grapes harvested will be perfect. The skin, which hasn't taken much stress, won't be too thick, and the wines will appear moderately tannic but with a super deep color. On tasting, the Pinot Noir wines are generous, rich on the palate yet full of finesse. The tannins are present but silky, and the acidity level is quite balanced. The wines still had ageing potential up to 2005-2010 for the best, and nowadays, you'll have to tap very high to taste this 1985 marvel. 

For white wines, it's a cold shower. Just when all the winemakers thought they were getting perfect grapes - and indeed they were, ripe, without a trace of mold - the lack of freshness caused an imbalance and made the wines too light. In their best years, the whites were fat and fruity, but lacked the backbone to carry them further. In any case, the 1985 whites are surely all drunk...

 

• The 1985 VALLÉE-DU-RHÔNE Vintage

1984 will be a great year for Vallée-du-Rhône wines. The weather will be perfect for flower development, and the summer will be ideal for helping the grapes ripen in a balanced way, without too much excess. Syrahs love the sun, but still require a little water, and this will be provided by a few rains during the summer, which will help the grapes swell a little. As a result, very ripe, full grapes will be entering the winery. As elsewhere in France, there were no meteorological worries. So it's a full vintage that will see the light of day in the Rhône. What's interesting about this vintage is that the wines are all going to be very powerful, very rich in flavor, but they're going to retain a certain tenderness, a very seductive softness. The 1985 vintage is a benchmark vintage for the wines of the Vallée-du-Rhône, and even more so for the Côte-Rôtie. On HermitageThe wines are a little softer than their neighbors, but don't have the same acidity, which means they lack volume in the middle and end of the palate. The small disappointment may come from the wines of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Although the 1985 vintage was very qualitative, the wines lacked a little acidity, as was the case with Hermitage. The wines will be very pleasant when young, powerful and robust, as we know them, but will show signs of weakness fairly quickly and start to run out of steam after a few years. The greatest of them will manage to hold out until 2010 or so to still have substance, but then they will need to be drunk for the lightness and evolution of the juice.

 

• Vintage 1985 in the REST OF FRANCE

1985 won't be perfect for everyone. 

Visit Champagne was hit head-on by severe frosts that wiped out almost 50% of the vintage's production. Fortunately, the summer was hot and dry, limiting the damage thanks to the superb quality of the grapes harvested. 

Visit Loire The grapes harvested were also of excellent quality. Most of the Cabernet grapes have reached perfect (or near-perfect) ripeness, producing complex, powerful wines.

Then there's l'Alsace... an exceptional vintage! The wines are rich, powerful and highly complex.